WASHINGTON (Interstat) — In a back-and-forth affair between two teams concluding difficult seasons, James Wood’s tiebreaking solo home run in the seventh inning propelled the Washington Nationals to a 6-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday evening at Nationals Park.

The win, played before a crowd of 24,360, improved the Nationals to 66-95, while the White Sox fell to 59-102. The game, which lasted 2 hours and 43 minutes, featured a combined 21 hits and five home runs.

For much of the afternoon, the story was the dominant starting pitching and a sudden offensive explosion from the White Sox. Chicago’s Sean Burke and Washington’s Jake Irvin were locked in a pitchers’ duel through the first three innings, with Burke striking out six and Irvin allowing just two hits.

The stalemate was shattered in the top of the fourth inning. After Kyle Teel led off with a single, White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery launched a two-run homer to right field, his 21st of the season. Following a walk to Miguel Vargas, Brooks Baldwin connected for another two-run shot, his 10th, to give Chicago a commanding 4-0 lead.

The Nationals immediately responded in the bottom half of the frame against Burke. Josh Bell doubled, and Daylen Lile followed with a two-run homer of his own to right-center field, cutting the deficit to 4-2. Burke limited the damage, however, striking out 10 batters over 4 1/3 innings of work.

The game remained 4-2 until the bottom of the seventh, when Washington’s offense erupted against the Chicago bullpen. After Brady House flied out, Nasim Nuñez singled to right field. Jacob Young then stepped up and launched a two-run homer to left field, tying the game at 4-4. On the very next pitch, Wood crushed a solo shot to center field, his 31st of the year, to give the Nationals their first lead of the afternoon at 5-4.

Washington added a critical insurance run in the eighth inning. Luis García Jr. walked and later scored on a line-drive single by Wood, his third hit of the game, extending the lead to 6-4.

That run proved decisive. In the top of the ninth, White Sox pinch-hitter Korey Lee, who had entered the game earlier, scored on a two-out single by Derek Hill off Nationals closer Jose A. Ferrer, bringing Chicago within a run. With the tying run on third and the winning run on first, Ferrer struck out Chase Meidroth swinging to end the game and secure his 11th save of the season.

The victory went to Nationals reliever Julian Fernández, who pitched a perfect eighth inning with two strikeouts to improve to 1-0. Brandon Eisert of the White Sox, who was charged with the three runs in the seventh inning, took the loss, falling to 3-8.

Offensively, Montgomery led the White Sox with three hits, including his home run and a double. Hill also had two hits and an RBI. For the Nationals, Wood finished 3 for 5 with two RBIs, while Young and Lile each drove in two runs with their home runs. Bell added two doubles.

The result flipped the script from the previous afternoon, when the White Sox edged the Nationals 10-9. The two teams will conclude their three-game series and their respective 2025 seasons on Sunday. The game defied the pregame projections from Interstat, which had simulated a 3-1 Washington victory and gave the Nationals a 55.9 percent probability to win. The combined 11 runs also went over the betting line of 8.5.